Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green made headlines for the wrong reasons recently. On a recent episode of his podcast, he talked about head coach Steve Kerr and how he felt like the four-time championship-winning coach has hindered his offensive potential.
“A part of me thinks he’s hindered me in my career,” Green said. “When (Kevin Durant) came, from 2016 on I have not had a play in our playbook.”
Apparently Green feels that he should have been used more as an offensive weapon in Golden State despite the fact that he’s always been known more for his defense rather than anything else.
Draymond Green's bizarre Steve Kerr take gets criticized
To be fair, Green said a lot of nice things about Kerr in that clip as well. He spoke about how he would do anything for Kerr and how he's taught him so much about basketball and competing. He wasn’t trying to say that Kerr robbed him of his career or anything, but the fact he seems to think he's been an underutilized offensive weapon for all these years is rather laughable.
Stephen A. Smith said of Green: “He had ample opportunity to have better numbers offensively if he simply could make open shots from the perimeter, and he didn't do it repeatedly. That's not the coach. That's you."
Former NBA player Austin Rivers recently piled on, saying of Green’s comments: “It's ridiculous. Draymond has such a high IQ. That's a big part of his game is how smart of a basketball player he is – so it bewilders me that he even thinks like this."
It’s probably a bit unfair on Green. It seems like he was just trying to make a point that he wasn't heavily featured as a scorer in the team’s offense for years. When Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson are on the team, it’s pretty hard to factor into the offense as a scorer. That's especially the case when you consider the other skills that Green brings to the table, but maybe he wishes he was included just a little more.
Green can score at times. It’s not like he’s completely inept offensively. He can get hot from the three-point line and make some wide open shots since opponents are willing to give them to him.
Draymond Green was never going to be a consistent offensive force
Yet no one could ever kid themselves into thinking that he could have been a real offensive force on any team, no matter the talent ahead of him.
He was always going to be a defensive bruiser who made an impact on the game with his physicality and tenacity. That fire has gotten him into trouble many a time, but it’s also what has fuelled him and the Warriors for years.
He’s still played a major role offensively, whether it’s setting screens for Curry or being more of a facilitator, he has had a huge impact on the team even if he’s had to be selfless in order to achieve that. Perhaps he just wishes that Kerr would’ve drawn up a couple of plays to throw him a bone.
There’s a chance that both Kerr and Green will be gone this offseason. Kerr is not under contract for next season and the Warriors could try to trade Green, meaning it really could be the end of an era.
Maybe Green will go somewhere else and turn into a guy who averages 20-something points per game, but something tells me it’s not Kerr who has been holding back his offensive potential all these years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google